Advice about getting out of the hobby

arinrb

New member
It looks like I may have to break down by Elos 120 in its infancy; after being up and running for about 4 months. I am hoping for some advice on how to best sell off my tank while breaking down the system, with the hope of recovering as much of the ~$10,000 I put into the system; understanding I expect there to be a big loss. For example, I have 150 lbs of air freighted FIJI live rock, do I try and sell that seperately online or to a LFS or is it best to try and sell a completely set up tank? Also I have a custom made sump/refugium/ATO/skimmer for the aquarium so I asume I want to bundle them together, but should I bundle them with the APEX,heaters,lights... Thank you in advance for any advice.
 
Try both; complete setup price and part out price. Skip the LFS, they have to make a profit so you'll be lucky if you get 50% of what you paid. They are taking the burden of selling and items like liverock might sit and take up retail space. If items are unopened you'll most likely get close to what you paid otherwise your looking at taking a loss. On average you'll most likely get about 30-50% of what you paid.
 
Try both; complete setup price and part out price. Skip the LFS, they have to make a profit so you'll be lucky if you get 50% of what you paid. They are taking the burden of selling and items like liverock might sit and take up retail space. If items are unopened you'll most likely get close to what you paid otherwise your looking at taking a loss. On average you'll most likely get about 30-50% of what you paid.
Pretty much sums it up. Is there a particular reason that you're getting out of the hobby only after 4 months? If there's a chance that you might get back, it might be best that you just hold onto your tank and everything else (minus livestock) so that you don't lose out on money. $10,000 is a lot of money, definitely a range where most people won't even be remotely interested in your tank. I think you'll be looking at around $5,000 of a whole set up, which is a lot of loss over just 4 months.
 
High end items should retain more than 50% of their value, especially if they're in like new condition. Elos/Apex, etc...No problem - You may only lose 10-20%. Posting in the BST forum will allow you to capture a larger list of potential buyers if you're willing to ship certain items.

Parting out to a forum like RC will probably allow you to recoup the maximum possible. A LFS will ream you because they're taking on risk, time and effort.

Post on the high but reasonable side, expect to be lowballed and hope you come out somewhere in the middle at a fair price point. Craigslist would attract more/worse lowball offers ;)

GLWS. $10k is a lot of money. The % you lose will really depend on what you paid for the items and how good of a deal or lack thereof you got yourself into.
 
IMO you will get more by parting out when you sell as a whole people are usually looking for a bigger discount for buying it all at once. Also you need to ask yourself when do you want the money if you want top dollar for parts you can get it but it will usually take a lot longer period of time to sell all the while dealing with questions about it and low ballers.

Selling as a whole:
Pros: selling everything at once, less people to deal with.
Cons: Usually less money(most people hope for a bigger discount buying everything)

Parting out:
Pros: More money per part
Cons: having to deal with more people(flakes,low ballers, taking more time out of your day), may not sell all parts
 
I seen a couple of elos 120 sell in the $1200-1500 range.
So depending on how much you pay could be a big loss.

You might also look at trading for other items you want.
I traded a Mac tube amp for something once.
 
For Craigslist, I generally say .30 cent to the dollar for quality items. That's for used items, I mean very used like 2-3 year items. Your situation is different so I'd say .50-.60 to the dollar. Good luck.
 
10k is a lot depends what you have I spent 2k and have high end stuff could only imagine 10k.
We'll post a summery of what you have ?
 
Typically people won't buy your system outright, as everyone has their idea of what they want their system to look like, plus most pple won't want to break down your setup and move it, even it was free (I've done it before and swore I'd never do it again).

Besides, you get more $ in the end by parting out.
 
Advice about getting out of the hobby

I just sold my Elos 120 tank stand sump return. Took about a month to sell and ended up going to a guy on Cl. The tank was a couple years old but was in almost new condition. I posted it for 1600 and ended up getting 1300. Ime people do not want to drop the money in the area on a high end tank. I think the best option for you is to part out. You WILL get the most money out of the system but it WILL be a pain in the a$$ dealing with all of the people coming and going. Make a decision what if any of the equipment you want to keep for a future build. You can generally expect to be in the 30-50% range of original price. Unfortunately that's how it goes. Best of luck with your sell.
 
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I seen a couple of elos 120 sell in the $1200-1500 range.
So depending on how much you pay could be a big loss.

You might also look at trading for other items you want.
I traded a Mac tube amp for something once.
If u have another Mac Tube amp laying around ,let me know :wave::celeb3:


lapsan
 
Anyone thought they would make money in this hobby? Your putting your money in the wrong thing. Just like cars , fish tanks are a liability. But if you really want to recoup your cost, I suggest you post some pictures. Would help the people who are interested. And like everyone said, breaking it up would give you the biggest ROI but it is also the most work.
 
Last time I was in the hobby, I spent easilly $15-$20k on my whole set up including livestocks. When I left the hobby, I parted it out and I got around $7k for everything over a period of about 5months, YES it took 5 months to sell everything. In the end, the $7k was already spent and gone as well. If I found a buyer for everything, I would wayyyyyyy rather sell for $4k because I wouldn't have to deal with 100people and take 5 months to sell everything, and be able to have $4k cash in front of me instead of $100 here $200 there. Again, the number was $7k that I recouped but over the period of 5 months, most of the cash was gone.

Just my experience.... And FYI, people think "high end" equipment sells faster, WRONG! I had pretty "high end" equipment (bubble king skimmer, tunzes, vortech, neptunes, etc...) most of the high end equipment had to be shipped out all over the country and took months to sell. Think about it, common sense, how many people are willing and wanting to drop $800 on a used skimmer compared to how many people are willing and wanting to drop $200 on a used skimmer? Lol

In parting out, there will be items (usually the cheaper and more affordable items) that sell in a blink of an eye, then there will be items that will never even sell. In the end, some years later, you'll probably just throw it away when you move and have no use for it because you're not even into the hobby anymore. I threw away light fixtures and heavy ballasts when I moved because they were such a pita to move and took too much space. And at that point just didn't want to deal with selling it and getting lowballed and wasting time to meet 10 different flakers on cl. LoL
 
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